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That is very useful—thank you.

Yes, and that means that Governments have to think and plan ahead and be much more strategic. As you have observed, it is year 6 from leaving and we are not at that point yet. Professor Menon, it was interesting to get your take on what different future Governments might do on alignment—about whether they might choose to align on most issues and then potentially innovate in areas where they are prepared to put in subsidy and Government investment. You gave the example of solar panels to Maurice Golden and, presumably, Governments could invest in other renewables, but they have to be strategic and think long ahead and put chunks of central Government money in to kick it off.

That is a useful insight. Maybe there could be something like a kick-start fund to get things going. We could then think about the three-year funding that you talked about to enable longer-term investment and ensure that care and safeguarding issues are picked up so that we are not making people with mental health issues more vulnerable.

Diana, do you have any insight into how we could make this happen and kick off that approach?

In a way, we probably need both, because prevention is as critical as supporting people once they have had a crisis or incident.

I draw colleagues’ attention to a good report that was published this week that highlights the work of the Whale Arts project. It is about mapping cultural dispersal by the Edinburgh festivals. A point was made earlier about spreading investment so that it is not just in Edinburgh and Glasgow but, even within Edinburgh and Glasgow, the social barriers to accessing culture are huge.

We very much need to pick up the evidence that we have just heard, convener.

I thank the witnesses for the fantastic submissions that they have sent us in advance, which are very much in tune with what we have been discussing.

On the one hand, we have the evidence from Creative Scotland that says that key parts of the cultural sector risk collapse after Covid. There has been a decade of cuts to local authorities, which has impacted on community culture massively, because it is not core funding.

On the other hand, we have the evidence that you are giving us about the preventative impact of spending on culture. Jenni Minto talked about this week’s CPG meeting on culture in the business sector, and we have had the culture in communities evidence. That all aligns with your evidence today, and it tells us that it makes economic, financial and human sense to invest in social prescribing.

How do we do this? We are a committee that gives recommendations to the Government, but it feels as though social prescribing should be part of a fast-track Covid recovery. Young people with mental health issues cannot get that support, yet it could potentially get them back on track so that they do not have to miss years of progress in their lives.

We have the budget, so what are the triggers to lift the issue up? We all agree that preventative spending makes sense but, as Robbie McGhee has just observed, some of the research has been out there for more than a decade and Campbell Christie made his recommendations a decade ago. What is the trigger that would help us to come out of Covid and on to the right track? What would you recommend?

It has been very interesting being able to read the tracker and to see the work that you have been doing.

I want to pick up on lessons learned from other neighbours of the EU. The European Free Trade Association has been going on for decades. What are the lessons that the UK can learn about being a neighbour of Europe but not now being in the EU? Are there any lessons from the other non-EU neighbours of the EU on the economy, divergence and trade deals?

That is very useful insight. Joël Reland, do you have any perspective on that?

I wanted to flag up the Danish issue because the Copenhagen office gives us an opportunity that we must seize with both hands.

In my opening question, I spoke about articulating a post-Brexit strategy, which previous witnesses have talked about. I get your point that the situation changes day by day, but there is also something about those relationships and the points that Mark Ruskell made about international relations in terms of a concordat across the UK with our partner countries in the EU. Will you talk about the need for a clear post-Brexit strategy and say how that links to the hubs that we have abroad and ways of increasing transparency about how they work?

I am not looking to be told absolutely everything, because there has to be a degree of give and take, but I would like to hear something about key priorities and the thematic approach. You talked about that in relation to international development, but I would like to hear more about it in relation to Europe as well. What are our priorities in that regard? Some witnesses said that our priorities should be tight but, of course, everyone suggests that the focus should be on the issues that they are interested in. We have heard today about the importance of education and cultural links. You mentioned economic development and trade, and the issue of climate change is also important. What is the strategy? What are the objectives under those headings, and how can they be linked to the hubs?

It is worth checking out the discussion that we had with the first panel about educational connectivity and the new Welsh scheme that was announced this week. There are interesting lessons for us to look at.

Thank you.